LSD
I always vaguely wondered how "lysergic acid diethylamide" got abbreviated as "LSD." I think I figured (or had been told) that the S came from "lySergic," but that didn't make...
epergne
I've seen epergnes plenty of times: they're those structures used at fancy dinners and teas and such, with tiers to hold serving dishes and candles and so on. But I...
blick and fulguration
The "bleak," also known as the "blay" and the "blick," is a particular "small European river fish," according to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. But what interests me more is that...
areal
I was familiar with the word "area," of course, but I didn't know 'til recently that the adjective form is "areal." ...you can get the same volume of magnetic dipoles...
ischemia
A recent story in Asimov's referred to a character having an "ischemic defect" in his heart. MW11 says that "ischemia" is a "deficient supply of blood to a body part...
sneeze
Related to that last entry, the etymology of "sneeze" is pretty cool: MW11 says it's from Middle English "snesen," alteration of "fnesen,"; related to Middle High German "pfnusen," to snort...
fnug
Will Q. recently introduced me to the word "fnug," also spelled "fnuck"; it's a Danish word meaning "fluff" or "speck." Presumably if you have a big pile of fnucks, they're...
ghazal
I happened across this word a couple weeks ago, and made a note to myself to post it; then on the way back from WisCon, Lisa M. mentioned that people...
pietist
"Pietism" was "a 17th century religious movement originating in Germany in reaction to formalism and intellectualism" (sez MW11); I guess a "Pietist" was a member of that movement, but I've...
parget
To "parget" is "to coat with plaster," especially ornamental or waterproofing plaster. I'm surprised that we have a word for such a thing, and particularly that it's been around since...